


Three Goodbyes, Each Harder Than The Last

by YourLocalPriestess



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Family Death, Gen, Sibling Love, backstory shit, hard family life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourLocalPriestess/pseuds/YourLocalPriestess
Summary: Every time Meg Shepard said goodbye to her brother.





	Three Goodbyes, Each Harder Than The Last

**Author's Note:**

> For Fanfiction Month Day 15! Halfway through yayyyy! ^_^ Prompt: Past/Present/Future.

“But why do you have to go to another school now?” Meg whined while kicking her feet back and forth at the end of the bed.

“You act like I’m dying or something.” Mason turned around, smiling and wearing his brand new Alliance-Official button up shirt. “It’s just high school.”

She sneered and glared at the floor. “Gross.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m not!” she shot back. “I just don’t see why you have to be all the way across the station! It’s stupid.”

He only shrugged and smirked at her through his mirror. “It’s just the way it is.”

“It’s stupid,” she huffed, throwing her whole body back onto the bed and crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the ceiling. “You’re going to be all the way on the other side of the station! What if I need you?”

He lay down next to her and leaned on one elbow as he gave her his insufferable grin. “You’ve literally only got two years until you’re there too. Calm down.”

She sighed and looked over at him. “Yeah, but while you’re off doing high school things, I’m stuck here and you’ll forget all about me and then you won’t want to hang out with me and then I’ll get in trouble and then mom will _kill_ me. And it’ll be all your fault.”

Mason laughed. “Is that right?”

“It is,” she said with a nod.

He pulled her into his arms then, in the tightest hug he’d ever given her, and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “I could never forget you, Goldie.”

“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes, but she wrapped her arms around him just the same. “You better not.”

~

Normally Meg loved being in the docking bay of Pandora. The docking bay meant getting off the ship and going planet side, or hell, even going to another ship. But today she stood there, a few feet behind where her parents stood side by side, watching as her brother was sworn into the Alliance Navy in front of the ship he was about to depart on.

Today was bullshit.

As the ceremony wrapped up, Mason walked over to them, all but unrecognizable in his uniform except for his grin. This kind of thing normally wasn’t a private affair, but their mother had pulled a few strings. Far as Meg could tell, it might actually be the only real benefit she’d seen come from her mother’s position in the Alliance.

When Mason reached them, he stood at attention and saluted their parents. Meg felt nauseous.

Their mother stepped forward and pulled him in for a cool, professional hug – all stiff movements and light touches and a smile of politician rather than a parent. Mason hugged her tight, despite her apparent attitude, and gave her a genuine smile that Meg knew the woman didn’t deserve.

Their father was next. For once, he displayed more warmth than Hannah. He shook Mason’s hand and gripped his forearm with the other while he smiled at him. Neither of them said anything, but Meg could see the way Mason’s shoulders squared and his chest rose after they let go.

Then it was her turn. As Mason walked over to her, she didn’t miss the derisive sneer that was fighting to curl her mother’s lip or the stern look that flashed in her father’s eyes. She didn’t care what expectations they had, what she was supposed to do, how she was supposed act. Her brother was fucking leaving for god knows how long.

And it sucked.

Before Mason even reached her, she closed the gap between them and threw her arms around his neck. He squeezed her back, so tight she struggled to breathe, but it didn’t matter. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck as tears started streaming down her face.

“This is bullshit,” she choked out.

“Nonsense.” He turned his head and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back in no time.”

Meg finally let go and took a step back, giving him a once over again. “You look so…weird. So Alliance-y.”

“That’s bound to happen, what with the uniform and all,” he said, offering her a smirk.

His joke made new tears burn in her eyes. She looked up at him again. “Just promise me you’ll come back in one piece.”

“It’s just basic–”

“Yeah, and after basic it’s deployment,” she shot back as the fresh tears brimmed over and slipped down her cheeks. “Promise me you’ll come back.”

All humor was gone from his eyes now, replaced with a much more unfamiliar somberness. He pulled her into his arms again just as sobs ripped out of her chest. She’d told herself she wouldn’t do this; not to him. But here she was, falling apart and hyperventilating in a docking bay. Making her brother feel like shit.

“I promise I’ll be back, Goldie,” he whispered, soft so their parents didn’t hear.

“You better,” she hiccuped, and squeezed him tight once more time.

~

Mason’s funeral was everything he would have hated.

Meg stared at the picture of her brother, stern faced and staring into the distance. Typical Alliance shot. Not typical Mason. Mason would be laughing while you tried to take his picture, or making one of his dumbass faces that pissed her off. She’d never seen him look so serious in her life.

People dressed in black milled about in front of her, chattering amongst themselves; loud enough for herself or anyone in fifty kilometers to hear. “He was so brave.” “Did you hear about what happened? In the end?” “He’s in a better place now.”

She clenched her fists as tears welled up in her eyes. Fuck them. Fuck this. Fuck everything. She stormed out of the dining hall in a whirlwind of black fabric and clicking heels. Her mother called after, but she kept moving. She had to get away from those – those assholes. Those fake fucking people who never even knew him. Who had no right to _mourn_ him.

When she reached the open air, she shed her shoes and just kept moving. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but wherever it was; she wanted to mourn in a way Mason would’ve wanted. She wanted to mourn her brother, not the Hero of Elysium.


End file.
